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Citizen journalism: Bringing literature closer to society
A question of sex: A scene from English writer Arnold Bennettâs A Question of Sex is performed at the auditorium of the Indonesian French Institute in Yogyakarta
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span class="inline inline-center">A question of sex: A scene from English writer Arnold Bennett's A Question of Sex is performed at the auditorium of the Indonesian French Institute in Yogyakarta. The performance was part of 'English Comedy Night #2' on May 23, an event organized to celebrate the 60th anniversary of Yogyakarta's Sanata Dharma University. Courtesy of Maria Dewi Rosari
Celebrating the 60th anniversary of Yogyakarta's Sanata Dharma University, the English Language Education Study Program of the university organized 'English Comedy Night #2' on May 23 at the auditorium of the Indonesian French Institute in Yogyakarta.
The four one-act plays were performed in two sessions, starting from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m.
From four one-act plays, three plays were taken from ones in 1900s. Two of the three plays were A Question of Sex and The Stepmother, which were written by English writer Arnold Bennett, whereas the two others were Not Smart by Wilbur Daniel Steele and an 1800 drama, An Irish Engagement, by Walter Watts.
Not Smart entertained the audience through the story of Fannie who became suspicious that Milo, her husband, had got her maid pregnant. A Question of Sex touched upon the issue of money. The protagonist, George, did not want to lose his £10,000 as promised by his Uncle Francis, who would only give George the money if his child was a boy. Unfortunately, his child turned out to be a girl.
An Irish Engagement started the session with laughter from the audience. Captain Foxlove, Julia's lover, wanted to break the engagement between Julia and Mr. McCarthy, a man chosen by her father. The naughtiness of Captain Foxlove's maid toward Julia's old father drew more laughs. The event was closed with The Stepmother, another play about love. It was about two men who wanted to propose to the same woman.
These performances were the final project of the Play Performance course. It is a compulsory course for fifth and sixth year students. Every year, this course challenges students to do a performance outside the university. This year, English comedy was chosen as the theme.
The course chooses the same theme for two semesters (odd and even semesters) in a year. The concept of the English comedy performance was opted for after success with performing an English monologues marathon in 2013.
Krisna Bernanda, a lecturer of the course, said the challenge of performing classic drama was to make it understandable and enjoyable to society. 'Classic drama is quite difficult to understand. It's really a challenge for us to perform such a drama with a comedy performance, which can be understood by the audience,' Krisna said the 66 students involved in the event deserve appreciation.
They were successful in working as a team and in bringing literary works closer to society, making the plays understandable and entertaining.
Maria Dewi Rosari
Yogyakarta
